MOUNT RAINIER 



approached the post, we met on the road a number of 

 the inhabitants with whom we were well acquainted, 

 and who did not recognize us. Nor were we surprised 

 when we got a glimpse of our faces in a glass. Hag- 

 gard and sunburnt, nearly every familiar feature had 

 disappeared. Since the loss of my hat, my head-dress 

 was the sleeve of a red flannel shirt, tied into a knot 

 at the elbow, with the point at the arm-pit for a visor. 

 Our clothes were in rags ; one of the doctor's panta- 

 loon-legs had entirely disappeared, and he had impro- 

 vised a substitute out of a coffee-sack. In our generally 

 dilapidated condition none of our acquaintances rec- 

 ognized us until we got to the post. We passed for 

 Indians until we arrived there, where we were received 

 by the officers with a shout at our ludicrous appear- 

 ance. They were all sitting under the oak-trees in 

 front of quarters, discussing what had probably be- 

 come of us, and proposing means for our rescue, when 

 we came up. 



I felt the effects of the trip for many days, and did 

 not recover my natural condition for some weeks. The 

 doctor and I went to the village next morning, where 

 the people were startled at our emaciated appearance. 

 We found that the doctor had lost twenty-one pounds 

 ir^ weight in fourteen days, and I had lost fourteen 

 pounds in the same time. The doctor, while we were 

 in the village, was taken with violent pains in his stom- 

 ach, and returned to his post quite sick. He did not 

 recover his health again for three months. 



The two soldiers went into the hospital immediately 

 on their return, and I learned that for the remainder of 

 their service they were in the hospital nearly all the 

 time. Four or five years after, Carroll applied to me 

 for a certificate on which to file an application for a 

 pension, stating that he had not been well since his 

 trip to the mountain. The Indian had an attack of 

 gastritis, and barely escaped with his life after a pro- 

 tracted sickness. I attribute my own escape from a 



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